The Latest: More charges pending in Utah school bomb scare

Mar. 06, 2018

ST. GEORGE, Utah (AP) — The Latest on a teenage student charged with bringing a homemade bomb to his high school in southern Utah (all times local, MST):

3:21 p.m.

Police in southern Utah confirm additional charges are pending against a teenage student accused of bringing a homemade bomb to his high school in St. George.

The unidentified teen was arrested Monday night on weapons-related charges after the discovery of the explosive device sending smoke from a backpack forced an evacuation of Pine View High School.

St. George police say the teen is also a suspect in the raising of the Islamic State group's flag on a pole at another Utah high school in nearby Hurricane last month just after the Florida mass school shooting.

Hurricane Police Officer Ken Thompson told The Associated Press on Tuesday charges are pending related to that incident. He says a search of the teen's home found evidence that ties him to the case at Hurricane High School.

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Eds: This version corrects that the teen is accused of bringing a homemade bomb to his school, not that he brought one.

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1:08 p.m.

A teenage student at a southern Utah high school has been charged with bringing a homemade bomb to the school that was discovered in a backpack emitting smoke and prompted an evacuation, police said Tuesday.

The boy was arrested Monday night after Pine View High School in the city of St. George was evacuated for two hours that afternoon while the FBI and a bomb squad investigated. Police declined to identify the arrested teen or give his age.

Authorities also said the teen is a suspect in the raising of the Islamic State group's flag on a pole at another Utah high school last month just after the Florida mass school shooting that was followed by numerous other threats to schools around the U.S.

No one was hurt Monday after the backpack was found in a common area of the school by a student who reported it to a teacher.

The boy was arrested and booked into a detention center on charges of manufacture, possession, sale, use or attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, St. George police said in a statement.

No one was hurt, no damage was reported and the school reopened Tuesday morning for classes. Police did not describe the homemade bomb in detail but said it "had the potential to cause significant injury or death."

Police in the city of Hurricane about a half-hour drive from St. George tweeted Monday night that the teen who was arrested is also suspected of raising an Islamic State group flag in February at Hurricane High School. That happened on Feb. 15, a day after a mass shooting at a school in Florida. Authorities initially thought the graffiti and flag at the school were pranks.